The Rankin File: Legacy of a Radical

Teresa Alfeld / Canada / 2018 / 90 ' / English

A feature documentary investigation into the colourful and sometimes controversial life of Vancouver lawyer, city councillor and socialist icon Harry Rankin.

Synopsis

A film that was never finished. A mayor that Vancouver almost had.

Vancouver, 1986. The Expo World’s Fair has just ended and the future of the city is at stake. Harry Rankin – World War II veteran, criminal lawyer, city councillor and outspoken socialist – is running for mayor against a young, right-wing upstart named Gordon Campbell. Decades later, director Teresa Alfeld unearths reels of 16mm footage of Harry’s campaign, filmed for a documentary by lawyer-turned-filmmaker-turned-lawyer Peter Smilsky, and decides to pick up where Peter left off and to complete the film about the Vancouver legend.

THE RANKIN FILE: LEGACY OF A RADICAL chronicles Harry’s nearly fifty-year career beginning with his World War II military service as a soldier. His worldview altered by his wartime experience, Harry sets out to build a working-class political movement in Vancouver that puts power in the hands of the people. Finally elected to city council in 1966 after eleven tries, Harry’s career as both a civic politician and a talented criminal lawyer takes off. Not even years of surveillance by the RCMP for alleged ties to the Communist Party – which he denies – can slow him down.

The past few years have seen the rise of populism on both the hard left and the hard right. As politicians from Bernie Sanders to Donald Trump in the United States, and from Jeremy Corbyn to Nigel Farage in the United Kingdom, attempt to harness the power of both the best and the worst of people looking for real change – and as Justin Trudeau attempts to split the differences here in Canada – what can we learn from the successes – and failures – of Harry Rankin?

Cinema Politica is the largest campus and community based documentary screening network in the world. We are a Montreal-based non-profit media arts organization dedicated to the dissemination of independent political works by Canadian and international filmmakers.